Act

Your voice matters. Communicating with your elected officials on important nuclear issues is a simple way that you can make a difference and help build a more peaceful world. All of our current actions are listed below.

Stop an Unconstitutional War with North Korea

Bills currently before the House of Representatives and the Senate aim to stop an unconstitutional attack against North Korea.

The bills, H.R. 4837 and S.2016, would prohibit the president from launching a first strike against North Korea without congressional approval. The bills also call on the president to “initiate negotiations designed to achieve a diplomatic agreement to halt and eventually reverse North Korea’s nuclear and missile pursuits.”

The bill in the House currently has 65 co-sponsors, while the bill in the Senate has only four senators. More are urgently needed. Please take a moment to write your elected officials about H.R. 4837 and S.2016.

If your representatives are already co-sponsors, your message template will be thanking them for having taken action.

If your representatives are not yet co-sponsors, your message template will ask them to co-sponsor this important legislation.

No money for new nuclear weapons or testing

The United States detonated 1,032 nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, under the ocean, and underground between 1945 and 1992 that devastated local communities. Though the U.S. has not conducted a full-scale underground nuclear test in 25 years, resurgent nuclear threats are gaining intensity in the Trump administration. More than inflammatory rhetoric from the President, neocons, nuclear lab managers, and others are urging Trump to hit the accelerator on new nuclear warheads and the underground explosions needed to test them.

Public pressure from ordinary Americans was essential in halting explosive U.S. nuclear testing in the atmosphere and underground 25 years ago. We must act now to halt funding for a new arms race.

Join us as we urge White House Budget Office Director, Mick Mulvaney, and the Armed Services and Appropriations Committees of the U.S. Congress not to fund programs that may lead to resumption of nuclear test explosions or new nuclear weapons.

Open Letter to the U.S. Congress: Act to Prevent Nuclear Catastrophe

This may be the most dangerous time in human history. The Roman emperor Nero is remembered for having fiddled while Rome burned. We may be witnessing the far more dangerous Nuclear Age equivalent to Nero’s fiddling in the form of the nuclear threat exchanges between Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.

Add your name to this Open Letter to members of Congress that calls on them to act urgently to prevent a nuclear catastrophe.

Tell Congress that Nuclear Weapons Are Banned

On July 7 at the United Nations, 122 nations adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In addition to banning use and threat of use, this new treaty also bans possession, stockpiling, transfer, development, testing, production, manufacturing, and acquisition of nuclear weapons, among other important prohibitions.

This treaty is an important step toward the elimination of nuclear weapons. The majority of the world’s nations consider nuclear weapons to be illegal, immoral, and prohibited.

We were dismayed that the United States actively boycotted this process and responded to it in a hostile manner. Responding to the newly-adopted treaty in a joint statement, the U.S., UK, and France stated, “We do not intend to sign, ratify or ever become party to it.”

This is yet another example of the U.S. ceding its leadership role in the world. While the majority of the world has negotiated in good faith to ban nuclear weapons, the U.S. and other nuclear-armed nations stubbornly continue to cling to the concept of nuclear deterrence.

The U.S., for example, is in the process of upgrading its nuclear arsenal and production infrastructure at a cost of over $1 trillion over the next three decades.

Please take a moment today to send a message to your elected representatives in Washington, DC, letting them know about the new nuclear ban treaty.

Ask them to consider this emerging legal norm prohibiting nuclear weapons as they make decisions on funding nuclear weapons programs in next year’s budget.

Preventing the First Use of Nuclear Weapons

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) have introduced bills in the House and Senate to reduce the likelihood of the United States using nuclear weapons first in a conflict. The bills would prohibit the President of the United States from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress.

Of course, we believe strongly that nuclear weapons should never be used under any circumstances. This bill would not legislate that, but it would make it much more difficult for the President to use nuclear weapons, which we believe is a move in the right direction.

Sign the Open Letter to Presidents Trump and Putin

At a press conference on February 16, 2017, President Donald Trump said, “I want to do the right thing for the American people, and to be honest, secondarily, I want to do the right thing for the world.” Trump said this in the context of U.S.-Russian relations, and immediately referred to each country’s massive nuclear arsenal. He also stated, “Nuclear holocaust would be like no other.”

Nuclear weapons put civilization and the human species at risk of annihilation, which is why we published an open letter to Presidents Trump and Putin in The Hill about this very issue early that same morning. The open letter calls on the two leaders to negotiate for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.

Tell State Farm: Don’t Bank on the Bomb

Did you know that all nine nuclear-armed countries are modernizing their nuclear forces? The United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea together spend over $100 billion annually on their nuclear forces.

While the majority of nuclear weapons funding comes from taxpayers in nuclear-armed countries, private sector investors also provide financing that enables the production, maintenance and modernization of nuclear arsenals.

A new report by PAX entitled “Don’t Bank on the Bomb” examines in great detail the companies that produce nuclear weapons and the financial institutions that back them.

State Farm, an insurance and financial services company in the United States, is one of the many companies that finance nuclear weapon producers. State Farm presents itself as a “good neighbor” – their advertisements tell you, “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”

Please take a moment today to write to State Farm CEO Michael Tipsord to let him know that financing nuclear weapons is unacceptable.